Adweek's Media All-Stars: Mindshare

Every day, we're inspired by the great work our people are doing - the ideas and activations they're driving to help our clients, push the industry forward, and make a real impact on both their local communities and the world at large. With that, we're excited to announce that Adweek has honored not one, not two, but three people in their Media All-Star Awards for the game-changing work they did last year.

• Ikechi Okoronkwo in the “Media All-Star” category, for his terrific leadership on clients’ data strategies, including the development of our Synapse tool.
• Arafel Buzan and James Kelly, in what we believe is the first time a duo has won the “Rising Star” category, for their launch and leadership of the NeuroLab.

You can read the profile for Ikechi here, and the one for Arafel and James here. We've also included short excerpts for each below.

Excerpt from Ikechi's profile: For many in the industry, data is a needed but confusing proposition. As the broad discussion of “big data” has shifted into eye-watering waves of analytics, even the most seasoned advertising professional can feel perplexed. Fortunately, there are people like Okoronkwo to help translate.

As what he calls an “analytics ambassador,” Okoronkwo is the mastermind behind Synapse, a sales forecasting tool that was built specifically for Volvo and helps optimize the brand’s marketing mix for growth and sales.

“Ikechi and his team have been instrumental in the transformation at Volvo Car USA from traditional advertiser to data-first advertiser,” says Trevor Hettesheimer, Volvo USA manager of KPI, analytics, search and planning.

• 

• 

Excerpt from Arafel and James' profile: With backgrounds in science and economics, Buzan and Kelly aren’t the typical 20-somethings you’ll find working within the walls of an agency. Neither majored in marketing, went to ad schools or nabbed internships at the most sought-after agencies, but both are proving that the unique expertise they bring to the table is increasingly becoming a valuable asset for Mindshare’s clients.

The pair runs the agency’s NeuroLab, an offering Mindshare debuted last year that uses neuroscience to help brands determine how to better connect and engage with consumers. For instance, the NeuroLab uses electroencephalogram (EEG) tests, which measure changes in electrical activity in different parts of the brain, to gauge how an individual is reacting to a particular piece of content.